Talk:Slang
From Academic Kids
I disagree with statements made in this article
I don't believe "slang" is over-all "aimed at excluding certain people from the conversation." So "slang" is created because "we don't want you to understand us" ? Maybe it is used by some with that intent, but as a general statement i find this inaccurate. "The use of slang is simply a way of circumventing social taboos," says the article. Really ? So all euphemistic speech is "slang" ? Gee, i thought a lot of "slang" was itself taboo.
To me, "slang" is just words invented and picked up and used among those familiar with them. We can identify different collections of words used by different speech communities and observe diverse behaviors in their relationships to their special languages.
Much of this article seems to me pretentiously written and flawed in concept, and the rest is a mish-mosh. I don't know how i would revise or add to it. I'd have to practically rewrite it, and i'm not sure how that would go over.
One problem with attempting to write about "slang" is that there are contradictory notions of what we mean by the word. I think the problem is so bad that the word has become almost useless to communicate any meaning less general than the one i offered in the second paragraph of this comment.
A most telling discrepancy is revealed by the fact that many words in slang dictionaries, and ones labelled "slang" in general dictionaries, have been in common, even general use for many decades with no indication that they will pass from use. How does that jive with the notion of "slang" as an ephemeral language ?
If "slang" is, by definition, ephemeral, then we cannot identify a word as "slang" until it has passed from use. If it hasn't been around long it is a simply a neologism. If it becomes established, or commonly used, then it's not "slang" is it ? So "slang" would refer only to out-of-use words that were never in common use.
So, throw out "ephemeral" for the moment. If we regard a new word as informal, does that make it "slang" ? How few people must use a word for it to be 'slang" ? Is a word perhaps "slang" if *you* don't use it or don't like it ? Does being "taboo" in someone's view make a word "slang" ? How much of it is attitude, and whose attitude ?
This article makes statements about "slang" that can apply to language regarded as standard. Connotations often change with time. If a word's use changes does that make it "slang" ? If someone thinks so, maybe it does. Does it have more to do with whose words they are ?
My view is incompatable with the existing article. Let others explain it their way, and i'll explain it mine. - erlome - 216.19.218.33 10:43, 9 Mar 2005 (UTC)
"Colloquialism" should not redirect to "slang." There are many colloquialisms that are not slang at all. It's possible to use colloquialisms without using hardly any slang at all.
See this definition of "slang" (http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=slang) and this definition of "colloquialism" (http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=colloquialism). --Larry Sanger
Well, a colloquialism is a term used chiefly in speech, as opposed to writing. A slang term is used in informal speech or writing... Well... What do we all think? Two articles or one? --Dante Alighieri 12:58 Dec 5, 2002 (UTC)
Two articles, definitely. Please see the definitions I linked to above. Here's a good definition of "slang":
- 1. A kind of language occurring chiefly in casual and playful speech, made up typically of short-lived coinages and figures of speech that are deliberately used in place of standard terms for added raciness, humor, irreverence, or other effect.
Now "colloquialism":
- A colloquial expression, not employed in formal discourse or writing.
In short, colloquialisms are simply informal expressions. All slang expressions are colloquialisms (because they're informal) but not all colloquialisms are slang (because not all informal expressions are casual, playful speech. "Yo, bro!" is slang (and therefore a colloquialism). "Dead as a doornail" and "pitch black" and many terms listed in dictionary as "colloq." are colloquialisms that are not slang. --Larry Sanger
How accurate is it to describe slang as "non-standard usage". Using "cool" as a slang term is probably nearly as common, if not more common, than using it to mean its literal definition. Maybe we need to define precisely what "standard usage" is? Does it mean using it as the dictionary defines it? Perhaps we should say that slang is a "usage other than the dictionary definition(s)"... more elegantly worded, of course. ;) --Dante Alighieri 12:43 Dec 5, 2002 (UTC)
- Yeah this has made me think. The British use of fag is more colloquial than slang. Everybody uses the term.
- That's right. Eton College banned fagging. Do you think gay rights activists will proteste?
The link to the Australian slang site is broken. What should be done about it?
"Slang is often used to with regard to semi-taboo subjects, such as
- Teabagging has become a popular shaming pass-time in western cultures - And your mom - And Ball Hair" I assume this is vandalism. Were items in the list replaced, or were these just added? I didn't know if I should just delete them.
